All Good Things Must Come To An End

The title of this blog was selected by Ryan when we talked about it last night.  He was referring to the three weeks of living with his facial flaps and he was being VERY sarcastic.  Those flaps were no fun!  But we are happy to report that they no longer exist.  Ryan's surgery to disconnect them yesterday was very successful and the doctors are happy with the results.  In addition to disconnecting the flaps and finishing off his cheeks, they grafted his upper lip, did some dermabrasion on his nose, chin, and cheeks, grafted his right shoulder that was open when they took his flap, and reversed the pedicle to close his left shoulder.  A lot of that probably doesn't make sense to most people, but just know that he is doing fine.  His right thigh is sore where they took the donor skin for his right shoulder.  But the graft on his upper lip came from one of the pedicles of his flaps.  Just like last time, the thing he's been complaining about the most are his eyes.  We've learned that when they operate so closely to his eyes it disrupts the lymphatic drainage and causes extreme dryness in his eyes.  This time we've been very proactive and made sure we began lubricating his eyes as soon as possible after surgery.  I think it is working because he's not having near the eye pain that he had last time.  It's funny to look at him right now and say he looks great.  Most normal people would think he looks terrible.  He's kind of purple, swollen, bloody, and stitched up, but you can already see how nicely everything is going to heal.  And after three weeks of staring at his jiggly cheek flaps, he looks down right beautiful!

I spent over 14 hours at the hospital yesterday and was very tired when I came home.  So, I'll probably be updating Ryan's status in the mornings since I can't go and see him until noon anyway.  He's already called me this morning to give me his McDonalds order for lunch.  And he said he had a pretty good night, except for all the lights and beeping in his room all night long.  He's only sharing a room with two other people (so far) this time.  And I knew he was doing a lot better than last time last night when he was quoting lines from Jim Gaffigan's comedy routine.  All he wanted for food yesterday was popsicles, jello, chicken broth, and ice cream, but he told me he ate a big breakfast tray this morning and of course, he's already calling for his McDonalds.  

Please keep praying for Ryan.  I know it is working.  Once the flap is disconnected, even though it had three weeks to set up it's vascular structure, it is essentially a graft.  And grafts can retract and fail.  While everything looks really great now, I know your prayers will keep it that way.  My sister, Stephanie, is in town this week helping out.  So the kids and I are doing good.  Thanks for all your calls, emails, texts, and well wishes.  We appreciate them all!